Nippin Anand

Master Mariner. Author. Thinker. Listener. Storyteller.

Are we learning from accidents?

A quandary, a question and a way forward?

The Four Monkeys

Using examples of accidents and personal stories, the book illustrates that when things go wrong, our instant reactions are finger pointing; mocking; apologising; and seeing life problems as a puzzle to be solved.

But how helpful are these reactions for learning?

The Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza once said:

‘Not to lament, not to laugh, not to curse but to understand.’

The Four Monkeys symbolise the wisdom of Spinoza and why, often in organisations, people don’t learn.

A Methodology for Learning

Rules, processes, systems, accreditations, training programs, models and tools can help. But what is your methodology to learn from fallible humans?

The book offers a coherent methodology to meet with the fallible person, and practical methods to learn from people and with them.

A subjective, biased, and an open ended inquiry into one of the most famous accidents in the maritime history – the capsizing of the Costa Concordia.

My first-hand interviews with the captain followed by a series of workshops around the world gradually became a source of learning and inner change.

Look inside the book.

Blurb

Are we learning from accidents? My research into the Costa Concordia disaster and my interviews with Captain Schettino suggest not.

The answer to the problem of learning lies not so much in designing fail-safe technologies and user-friendly systems as in questioning our fears, myths, beliefs, rituals, worldviews and imagination about risk and safety.

Many organisations work hard to engage their frontline staff in managing risk more effectively. But in our efforts to manage risk we underestimate the interpretive and subjective dimensions of risk itself. From a search for ‘weak signals’ to differentiating between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ work, our unconscious permeates every aspect of our understanding of risk and safety.

Risk management is a myth. Safety management is a construct that in promising salvation denies human fallibility.

When we recognise the mythical and non-rational nature of risk and safety beliefs, our focus will shift from counting and controlling hazards towards pathways that make us humble, curious, doubtful and conscious about the human ‘being’. When we begin to accept that humans are fallible, we search for better ways to humanise the risks and relate to people.

Through a lived journey of dissonance, disturbance, learning and change, this book offers an alternative pathway to wisdom in risk intelligence, and a method to tackle risks in an uncertain world.

Praise for Learning from Accidents

‘This brilliant book combines deeply personal insights and scholarly work, brought to bear on the important case of the Costa Concordia ship disaster. It's full of riveting stories about shipping, punctuated by cool-headed analyses of mistakes and learning in general. Nippin’s labour of love will make everyone who reads the work a better, more interesting person.’

‘It is frustrating when human error and not following procedures is the inevitable finding of accident investigations. Nippin encourages us to not only walk around to observe compliance over physical risks, but also to begin to observe and seek to understand the mental states where the decision to take risks originates.’

‘Anybody genuinely seeking to understand risks from a moral, commercial, reputational, or legal perspective should take the time to reflect on the perspective that Nippin offers us.’

‘It is unlike any other book that I am aware of about learning from accidents, and why we – in our organisations – often don’t.’

‘Are we learning from accidents, and if so, how? I can’t think of a better person than Dr Nippin Anand to guide us through these essential questions. His work on safety and risk perception in the maritime domain, based on years of contemplation and first-hand insights into the Costa Concordia disaster, will serve to enlighten us all.’

‘Nippin’s work has challenged me with a simple, obvious yet challenging truth - people see and experience the world through their own eyes - including risk and safety at work. That reality creates an opportunity for us as leaders to open ourselves to new ways of understanding our people and our work and with that, the genuine opportunity to learn.’

‘Nippin has a wonderful way of invoking curiosity and contemplation in those who are lucky enough to engage him. I’ve found his work invaluable, helping to build pathways to more effective connections and navigating understanding others and their decision making. Nippin is a wonderful anthropologist, philosopher and so much more, but most importantly, he’s an amazing human being.’

Buy the Book

You can buy the book as an eBook or in Printed versions.

When ordering, please select the appropriate country (the link below is for Amazon UK).

For bulk orders, please follow this link or send us an email at support@novellus.solutions

Buy the book on my website

For those of you who can’t buy the book from Amazon, you can buy it from our consultancy website Novellus.Solutions and we deliver to all parts of the world.

Dr Nippin Anand

Dr. Nippin Anand is the Founder and CEO of Novellus Solutions, a consultancy specializing in human-centered approaches to learning, risk and social decision making. Nippin is a former master mariner with an MSc in Economics and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences and Anthropology. More than this, Nippin brings a Transdisciplinary lens to the challenges of work and organising spanning: the humanities, social psychology, mythology, semiotics, anthropology and philosophy.

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